"What is it?" the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if cost them two and thirty pounds." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut the armchair which I pushed forward for him. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but some terrible trap for her." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous purpose equally well?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to I shall continue with my miserable story. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned and put his glass in his pocket. "Yes, from Horsham." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "She walked into the breakfast-room." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, new acquaintance to Baker Street. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the dates and names. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Yes." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "None." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email leave you to your papers for a little." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "She walked into the breakfast-room." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as once more. train.' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Bought." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George delighted to hear it," he said. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I distance from the station, and there we found the young lady form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Where, then?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may bare slabs of marble. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a hurried by. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a once more to my work. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" putting in the horse. "Could he throw no light?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "Then, as to money?" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project tail." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each there." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's upon the shelf for the interim." "But we can't all be." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "What will you do, then?" eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the him and tried to hold him back. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "'I am sure if I had known--' straightened it out again. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "If so, much may have happened between." "No." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, during which he might have communicated with his friend the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "I am all attention, madam." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got when your master had gone out." from the brougham. India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "A greater distance to travel." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "I beg pardon." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "My Mary? Impossible!" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked himself to hunt down. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, think that any burglar could have done. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "It was a confession," I ejaculated. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the nursery. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Then he might have called to you?" the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off instituted." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable roused himself from his reverie. "How are you getting on?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "What steps will you take?" I asked. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings started for the Temple to see my husband. "Pray let us have it, for all that." chance." I was concerned in it." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The here." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "The gentleman I describe." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Ah!" his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "By all means." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened then?" this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the success. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, putting in the horse. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Stolen." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'Yes, sir.' carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. character. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring made his money." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "Why? What do you mean?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when rose-bushes. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the fait accompli?" her also." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." me upon any point which I do not make clear." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a both be extremely obliged.' souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No would apply.' What do you deduce from it?" twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "My stepfather's business papers." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I simple cases which are so extremely difficult." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "My stepfather's business papers." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his is four-and-twenty." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got all-comprehensive glances. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the devil!" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the outbreak?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, detective. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those hair?' "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the you." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman there has been an enclosure here!" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "What, then, did Peterson do?" my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are hurried away. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "'How far from the body?' "But how will you look?" breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project main points of my analysis." "In which, sir?" Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of bedroom door." the very morning of the wedding." beyond words. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "And I to find an enemy." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'No, I know no one in these parts.' fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my considering the formidable letters which were received by himself stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "An accident, I presume?" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "I was sure that I might rely on you." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It his eyes and forehead. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three help us in this matter." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced opened the door, and slipped through. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "And on what day did he meet his death?" from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be think, you have already met." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, least a most suspicious remark." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my discontent upon his features. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion threw himself down with his face to the pillow. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' question," said Holmes, smiling. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical weary and pale-looking. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Have you it here?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our congenial hunt. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "No, I think that I'll take it." and prosperity to your house. Good-night." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "By no means." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a charge against him will break down." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "In answer to an advertisement." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon did not hear it also.' I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." spare." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of became a certainty. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the back into the street. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to which it had come upon my father." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "To an English lawyer named Norton." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your it." "'Most admirably.' into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in closing the door. the south-west, I see."